Automatic or knobless door-latch.



E. EPLING.

AUTOMATIC 0R KNOBLESS- 000R LATCH.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- Il, 1916.

Patented Mar. 27,1917.

EMERY T. EPLING, 0F LEWISTON, IDAHO.

AUTOMATIC 0R KNOBLESS DOOR-LATCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2'7, 1917.

Application filed September 11, 1916. Serial No. 119,590.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, EMERY'T. EPLING,'2I citizen of the United States of America, residing at Lewiston, in the county of, Nez Perce and State of Idaho, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic or Knobless Door-Latches, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to door latches in which the securing or catch-bolt is automatic in its action, both at opening and closing the door; the bolt yielding, for opening, to a force but little in excess ofthat resistance ordinarily required to retain the door closed;

and this, without any operating knob or handle connected directly with the bolt; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to provide, in such a device, a catch bolt the looking or fastening face of which will normally remain in alinement with the securing or keeping edge of the striking or keeperplate on the jamb, irrespective of variations in the distance between such keeper-plate and the face-plate of the latch casing, thereby, preventing lost motion, which generally culminates in the rattling of a closed door; second, to construct bolt-actuating mechanism that will give the bolt its greatest resistance in the initial part of its opening or releasing movement, thereby, lessening the unintentional opening of a closure, as by gusts of wind, animal pets or small children. All of which objects, with others of more direct pertinence to the specific peculiar construction of the device, I attain by the mechanism illustrated by the accompanyingdrawings in which, Figure 1 is a front side view with a portion of the casing broken away, and showing the movable parts in a normal locking position; Fig. 2, a longitudinal horizontal central section on the broken line 22 of Fig. 1, showing a section of jamb and keeperplate in relative positions; Fig. 3, a section on the'broken lines 3 3 "of Figs. l and 5, showing positions taken by the movable parts when openinga door in which the latch is set; Fig. 4, a section taken on the broken line H of Fig.3; F ig. 5, a vertical crosssection on the broken lines 5-5 of Figs. 3 and 4:; Fig. 6, a section similar to Fig. 3, showing one of the progressive positions of the movable parts when closing the door; Fig. 7, a perspective view of the springactuated plunger separated from the other parts, and drawn to a larger scale; and Fig.

8, is a perspective view,drawn to a still larger scale,of the oscillatory catch-bolt, consisting of the bolt-head, the base and the double or forked inclined bolt-plates or branches, taken alone, separated from all other parts of the contrivance.

The bolt-head 6 is of the usual shape, having an inclined back engaged by the keeperplate 8 on the door-way jamb ,9, when the door is closing, to slide thereon and be slidlngly retired into the latch casing to pass the keeper-plate, as shown in Fig. 6. Otherwise this head is shaped and sized to pass from the inside through the opening 12 in the center of the face-plate 7 and it normally stands protruding through said opening, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, 'yieldin ly held in this position by the expansive action of the spring 19, as hereinafter further described. To the inner base of the bolt-head there is fastened a double U-shaped or bifurcate boltplate, consisting of the base 10 and the inwardly projecting vertically spaced boltplate-branches 14 and 14. A central stud 21 on the base of the bolt-head is riveted in a countersunk central perforation of the base of the bolt-plate, as shown in Figs. 2, 4 and 8, to fasten them rigidly together to complete the catch-bolt;this oscillatory and sliding catch-bolt is thus shaped to a 'rhombic plan and may be made integral of cast metal without departing 'from the spirit of my invention. The base of the plate 10 is of greater vertical dimension than the base of the head and 'is disposed thereon to project above and below the head to form the shoulders 11 and 11, top and bottom, to engage the inner surface of the face-plate at the top and bottomedges of the opening 12; to thereby limit the outward movement of the head, and thereby to assist to produce the forward oscillation of the catch-bolt when it is approaching the correctly alined locking position; also, to seat the catch-bolt in this locking position and to facilitate 'fulcruming the catch-bolt in the unlocking movement.

A plunger, to engage and actuate" the tom the recesses 13 and 13, to loosely receive the inwardly-standing branches or spaced bolt-plates 14 and 1A of the catch-bolt.

The coil spring 19 is disposed centrally and longitudinally of the plunger and casing; its outer end is seated around the inwardly projecting stud 16 disposed centrally on the head-plate of the plunger between the leg-plates, and the opposite end is seated in like manner on the stud 17 disposed to stand outwardly and centraly on the inner head wall of the casing. This spring expansively and continuously forces the plunger toward and against the oscillatory catch-bolt.

The casing is made up with the slots 20 and 20, both front and back sides, through which a spring that has become set or broken may be removed and a new one inserted. This casing has integral top and bottom ears 23 and 23, on its outer end through which it is riveted to the inside of the face-plate. Otherwise it is of usual construction, inclosing a chamber just large enough to acconr modate the operative parts and their movements. It is therefore very compact and small for the service rendered and being symmetrical in form it is simply turned over, one-half around, on its longitudinal axis, in the mortise that it is seated in, to change the hand to accord with swing of doors.

In operation, taking the locked position, as shown in Fig. 2, the front face of the bolthead 6 bearing against the back edge of the keeper-plate. As the whole latch structure is brought forward, by opening the door in which it is seated, the bolt-head yields in clining backwardly and the catch-bolt is oscillated to a position inclined relative to the other parts, as shown in Fig. 3. To attain this inclined position the forward ends 24 and 24: of the shoulders 11 and 11 rest against and slide slightly on the overlaping inside edges of the faceplate, above and below the bolt-opening; the inside of these projecting overlapping edges serving as alined spaced fulcrum-ways. The back edge 25 of the bolt-plate base 10, turning inwardly against the base of the plunger, slides the plunger inwardly against the action of the spring. This oscillatory move ment reaches its limit, by the inclined edges 26 and 26,- of the branch-plates 14 of the bolt-plate, striking the back of the front leg-plate of the plunger, and the inclined back of the bolt-head striking against the back of the opening and the inside of the back of the casing. At this stage the front face of the bolt-head stands inclined to the direction of movement of the bolt and plunger, and this inclined front face slides on the keeper-plate, as the door continues to open, forcing the bolt and plunger, both together, farther into the casing until the point of the head will pass the keeper-plate,

to complete the opening movement, as shown in Fig. 3.

'It is obvious that, immediately after the point of the bolt-head has passed off of the keeper-plate, all the movable parts, actuated by the expansion of the spring, will, by reverse movements, return to their normal positions, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Also, that in closing, to latch, the bolt and plunger act together, like an ordinary integral catch-bolt, actuated by the keeper-plate and the spring, as illustrated in Fig. 6. Likewise, that rattling of the door or closure, caused by the widening of the space between the swinging edge of the door and the amb, is overcome. And also, that the spring actuated plunger gives the oscillatory catchbolt greater resistance in the initial part of its opening or releasing movement.

I claim:

1. An automatic latch, comprising a casing having a bolt-head opening through its face-plate, a plunger in the casing having recesses in the top and bottom sides thereof, a coil spring in the casing to actuate said plunger toward the face-plate, an oscillatory and sliding catch-bolt interposed in the casing between the plunger and the face-plate, an inclined-backed bolt-head on the catch bolt adapted to protrude through said opening and to swing therein, and spaced boltplates on said catch-bolt having inclined front edges and seated to swing in the recesses in the plunger.

2. An automatic latch, comprising a bifurcate plunger, a stud disposed centrally of the base of the plunger between the branches thereof, an expansive coil spring having one end disposed between the branches of the plunger and seated around said stud, a casing to inclose and carry said plunger and having a side slot for the insertion or removal of said spring, a stud disposed on the inner wall of the casing opposed to the stud on the plunger to seat the opposite end of the spring, a face-plate on the casing having a bolt-head-opening, an oscillatory sliding catch-bolt disposed in the casing between the plunger and face-plate and having a head adapted to protrude through said opening to both swing and slidingly retire therein.

8. An automatic latch, comprising a casing, a face-plate having a bolt-head opening disposed at the outer end of said casing, a bifurcate plunger disposed in the casing with its branches toward the inner end thereof and having opposite side recesses in 1ts base coincident with the space between its branches, a coil spring disposed between the inner end of the casing and the base of the plunger to yieldingly press the plunger toward the face-plate, an oscillatory sliding catch-bolt disposed between the plunger and face-plate, a head on the catch-bolt having an inclined back and adapted to protrude through and swing in said bolt-head-opening, and inwardly disposed spaced branchplates on said catch-bolt having inclined front edges and seated to swing in the recesses in the base of the plunger.

4:. In an automatic latch, a spring-actuated plunger having opposite side recesses, in combination with an oscillatory catchbolt having spaced boltplates with inclined edges adapted to engage and swing in said recesses, whereby, the inclination of the bolthead may be reversed and still stand in sliding alinement with the actuating plunger.

5. In an automatic latch, a latch-casing faceplate having a bolt-opening, and a boltactuating plunger having guide legs, in combination with an oscillatory and sliding catch-bolt consisting of a head having an inclined back and adapted to swing forwardly and backwardly and slide inwardly and outwardly in said bolt opening and a double or furcate bolt-plate having a base larger than the base of said bolt-head and disposed thereon to form intermediate shoulders on said bolt to engage the inside of said face-plate to limit the outward slide of the bolt, to pivot the bolt for oscillation and to seat it in locking position and the furcate plate having the edges of its branches inclined and disposed to engage the guide legs at opposite sides of the plunger to limit the oscillation of the bolt.

6. An oscillatory and sliding catch-bolt for automatic latches, comprising a triangular head portion and a triangular plate portion united to shape a bolt of rhombic form adapted to be oscillated to bring either pair of its opposite parallel bolt of rhombic'form adapted to be oscillated to bring either pair of its opposite parallel sides into parallel alinement with a fixeddirection of sliding movement for the bolt and accordingly to swing either the back or front of the bolt-head into inclination to the fixed direction of the slide of the bolt.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed hereto my signature.

EMERY T. EPLING.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

